Katharina von Schnurbein is the European Commission’s Coordinator on Combating Antisemitism. Von Schnurbein works with EU Member States, the European Parliament, civil society organizations, and academia to strengthen policy responses to antisemitism, as well as to hate crimes and discrimination more broadly.
After a deadly attack on a Copenhagen synagogue in 2015, Niddal El-Jabri felt compelled to act. Inspired by expressions of non-violent solidarity happening as part of the Arab Spring, El-Jabri decided to organize a “peace ring” around the synagogue.
When he was only in his mid-twenties, Ilja Sichrovsky started the Muslim Jewish Conference to create a space for Muslims and Jews to discuss stereotypes, misconceptions, and issues that affect both communities. Sichrovsky says that real change begins with listening, and he encourages participants to surrender their talking points and soundbites.
Dervis Hizarci believes that openness to dialogue is key to his work as an educator. First at the Jewish Museum Berlin and now with KIgA, the Kreuzberger Initiative against Antisemitism, Hizarci works to confront hatred and ignorance, which can breed radicalism and violence.
As a young man at the American University of Beirut in the 1960s, Mohammed Dajani was a student activist and a member of Fatah, fighting for Palestinian liberation. But his hardline views softened after the death of his parents, who were each, in turn, cared for by Israeli doctors and emergency personnel. Dajani has evolved into a voice of moderation, working to end conflict through sharing personal narratives. But it is not easy to be a champion of moderation.
Robert Örell got involved with the Swedish white power movement in his early teens. Now he works as director of Exit Sweden, the very organization that helped him leave neo-Nazism behind. Since 1998, Exit has helped hundreds separate from white supremacist gangs. Today, they are looking into ways their work might apply to other extremist organizations, including ISIS, religious cults, and criminal gangs.
Mo Asumang is a German filmmaker who confronts racism and antisemitism in the most literal way: she talks with people, face to face. She attends nationalist parades and anti-immigration rallies in Germany. She meets with white supremacists in the American South. She walks up to strangers with her camera crew and just begins a conversation.
Rabbi Yehuda Sarna and Imam Khalid Latif are co-founders of the ‘Of Many’ Institute for Multifaith Leadership at New York University. They teach a course together and lead service trips to cultivate cooperation and dialogue among students from different faiths.
David Nirenberg is a professor of history at the University of Chicago. His book Anti-Judaism: The Western Tradition examines the durability and usage of anti-Jewish sentiments throughout history.
Iván Fischer has received a lot of attention around the world for his recent opera "The Red Heifer," based on a 19th-century blood libel case. The opera has been polarizing in Hungary, where antisemitism and anti-Roma sentiments are on the rise.
Watch videos and read articles about the Holocaust and the conditions that made it possible.
